


Not What I Expected

by PaperandAshes



Category: Fence (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 16:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17429528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaperandAshes/pseuds/PaperandAshes
Summary: Nicholas finally faces off against Jesse Coste and it doesn’t go at all like he expects...





	Not What I Expected

**Author's Note:**

> Please note! This was written before Issue #12 was released so a few details aren’t right. I had originally posted on Tumblr but thought this would be a better place for it. Enjoy!

Murmurs filled the Fencing Salle as spectators made their way to their seats. A sea of white t-shirts and banners bearing the Exton school crest dominated the stand. Nicholas wasn’t surprised. Exton were the favourites after all, as they were the year before and the one before that. That didn’t matter to Nick. He had one goal in mind: beat Jesse Coste. Not that he’d actually get the chance; he was only a ‘reserve’. The main team consisted of Harvard, their team captain, Seiji, and Aiden. Nick had narrowly beaten out Eugene for the last spot on the team. It wasn’t the resounding success he had hoped for when he first arrived at King’s Row Boy’s School but as Bobby had said at least he was ‘on the team’ and that meant he got to stay, even if it was only on a technicality.

Weapons check had taken longer than they had thought and as a result, everything had run behind schedule. So far Seiji had already won one of his bouts, as had Harvard and Aiden. Harvard was leading his second match ten points to four against a boy from a school in New Jersey. He was in really good form so Nick let himself get distracted and study the fencers from the other schools. Some were practicing their footwork near the pistes or chatting to each other but all seemed to be avoiding Exton. He vaguely wondered if the other schools resented Exton for their success. He didn’t blame them. They had everything: the best equipment, the best coaches, adoring fans... and Jesse Coste. Nicholas tried hard to ignore the churning feeling in his stomach. Perfect Jesse who had everything he didn’t. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“Hey, you ok? You look a little pale.”

A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

“I’m fine, just nervous.” He said as Harvard sat down beside him, fresh from his 15-10 win. “Seiji’s up next. He’s up against one of the guys from Halverton High. He’ll be fine though. Apart from Park, none of their team is ranked.”

Harvard nodded. “Wish I could say the same for Aiden.”

Nicholas looked up. “I know he’s up against Coste next but he did just fine in his first match. He’s in pretty good form today.”

“Yeah, but he’s disappeared again. He did this last year too.”

“He’s probably just in the bathroom?”

“For an hour and a half?” Harvard raised an eyebrow.

“Met someone on the way? It is Aiden after all. I just hope he brought condoms!” Nicholas grinned.

Harvard sighed, “Not funny Nicholas but you’re probably right.”

They looked up just in time to see Seiji score the final point on his opponent: 15-1. As if there was any doubt. Now all that was left was for Aiden to do the impossible and beat Jesse. Even if he lost they would still get 3rd place in the tournament which was very respectable and most importantly much better than they had ever done before. Harvard smiled:

“We’ve done good this year. I’m proud of us.”

Nicholas felt a pit in his stomach. ‘We’? He hadn’t actually gotten to do anything so he didn’t feel like this was his success. The smile from his earlier joke faded. Seiji made his way over to them.

“Where’s Aiden? He’s up against Jesse next. He needs to get ready.”

He pointedly looked at Nicholas. After the final day of tryouts, he and Seiji had reached a somewhat uneasy truce. Sure, Nicholas had declared them friends but it was a slow and tense friendship. Seiji still hadn’t let the Jesse thing drop as he scrutinised Nicholas’ fencing technique during practice. No amount of denial seemed to dissuade his questioning so Nicholas had taken to completely tuning him out whenever he did so. Though this only seemed to annoy Seiji further. But what else was he supposed to do? Even if he did tell anyone the truth about him and Jesse, would they even believe him?

“C’mon Aiden, where are you? Don’t do this to me again.”

He heard Harvard mutter to himself.

One of the officials made her way over to the team.

“Would the last member of your team please make their way to the piste.” She indicated towards the first piste at the front of the crowd.

“He’s just gone to the bathroom. He’ll be back soon.” Harvard told her although it didn’t sound like he believed it himself.

The official nodded. “He has five minutes. If he doesn’t return in that time, either use your reserve or forfeit the match. We’ll leave that to you and your coach to decide.”

“Shit.” Nicholas swore under his breath. He had wanted to fence in the tournament, and had wanted to fence Jesse but now that the opportunity had presented itself his legs had turned to jelly and his stomach clenched. Could he do this?

Harvard had gone to talk with Coach and Nicholas could feel Seiji starting at the top of his head. Was his panic showing? ‘Probably’ he thought. ‘Knowing my luck anyway.’

“Nicholas, get set up. Aiden may still turn up but best to be prepared anyway.” Coach Williams handed Nicholas his mask. He took it numbly and picked up hie epee. The sound of the crowd seemed oddly distant as he took up his place at the piste and the officials clipped the electronic equipment to his fencing jacket. Looking down at his tatty red fencing shoes, he stepped forward and suddenly a hand was thrust under his face. He jerked up quickly.

“Hi I’m Jesse. I hope we have a great match!”

He was greeted with a bright, good-natured smile and expectant gaze. Was this a trick? He just stared at the extended hand. The bright smile faded to concern.

“Are you ok? You don’t look so good?”

Nicholas shook his head.

“I’m fine. Let’s fence.” He said, putting on his mask.

Jesse still had a look of worry on his face but put on his mask and took up position.

Guard check. Salute. En Garde, Prets, Allez!

Jesse was fast. Faster than him. Faster even than Seiji. They’d barely even started and already Jesse was a point up. Then two, then three. It felt almost like when he had faced Eugene for the first time. He couldn’t concentrate with his mind all over the place, making obvious, exploitable mistakes. The referee called for a break and Harvard ran over to him.

“Nicholas, it’s alright. You’re overthinking. Don’t think about us or winning, that doesn’t matter. Just think about fencing. Just like we do in practice ok?”

Nicholas nodded and put his mask back on.

The match continued. Four points, five points, six, seven, eight. Then a miracle, one point to Nicholas. Jesse has been open in fourth and without noticing Nicholas had went for it. He wasn’t even sure it had been a clean hit until he looked at the scoreboard. And there it was:

‘8-1’

He’d scored against Jesse! And strangely enough, Jesse himself seemed to be smiling again. 

Unfortunately, that was to be Nicholas’ only point for the match as they continued to 15-1. The elation from scoring against Jesse had gone as the match ended and Nicholas took off his mask for the last time. The hand was back in front of his face.

“That was fun! I didn’t get your name earlier?”

Nicholas took the hand, in the spirit of good sportsmanship if nothing else. The hand at the beginning had thrown him but his mother hadn’t raised him to be rude (for all her parenting actually amounted to).

“I’m Nicholas.”

Jesse smiled again. “It’s not often I get to fence other lefties, other than dad I mean. How long have you been fencing for?”

“Just over a year. I had to fit it in around school and work.”

“Could you please get off the piste!” Called one of the officials, “The next match is about to begin!”

“Sorry!” Jesse yelled back. He turned to Nicholas. “C’mon, let’s go get some water.” He said, and lead Nicholas off the piste. He handed Nicholas an unopened bottle from a cooler.

“You’ve only been fencing for a year? And you’ve already made the school team? That’s awesome!” Jesse beamed at him. “You know, most people have been fencing since they were little and still can’t make the cut. You should be proud of that, that’s impressive!”

Nicholas bristled a little. “I’m the reserve, I’m not actually ‘on’ the team.”

“Sure you are! What do you call just now then?”

Nicholas didn’t answer so Jesse continued.

“‘Cause I call it ‘fencing as part of a team’. Are you always this hard on yourself? Sure there are a few gaps in your technique... ok a lot of gaps but that’s something that can be fixed and you’re not that bad a fencer! Think of it like, like, steps in a dance. Just learn the steps and the rest falls into place. Not that I know much about dancing. And I’m rambling. And giving you unsolicited advice. Sorry, I didn’t mean to do that.”

Nicholas couldn’t help letting out a laugh. “It’s alright. You’re right though, I guess, about the dancing. Kinda like like learning to salsa. I never really thought of it that way.”

“Wait. You know how to salsa?” Jesse looked a little confused.

“Well, yeah. I used to work at a sports centre in San Remo where I had fencing classes and ended up in the salsa class too. Turns out I liked it more than I thought.”

Jesse suddenly had a sort of wistful look on his face.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to dance. Hey! If I help you with your fencing technique, will you teach me how to salsa?”

Nicholas’ jaw dropped. “You serious?! You’ve only just met me. Plus we’re at different schools...”

“But we’re friends now, so what’s the problem? Anyway, the school thing doesn’t matter, that’s what phones and stuff like Discord and Skype are for. You do have a phone right?”

“Sure but...”

The more Nicholas spoke to Jesse the more Jesse seemed to be less like the smug, elitist prick his mind had painted him as rather a overgrown, golden retriever puppy. All overexcitable energy and eagerness. He could feel it getting harder to feel resentful of his unknowing half brother. It was a risky idea but he found himself quite liking the thought of being friends with Jesse. If he ever found out who Nicholas actually was then shit might hit the fan but looking at Jesse’s excited bouncing made the decision for him.

“Fine, hold on a sec’ ‘til I get my phone.”

“Ok! I’ll wait here.” 

Nicholas made his way back to the locker room, feeling Seiji’s confused stare follow him as he went.


End file.
